I'm not going anywhere

1

River

"River! get up you're gonna be late" blares down the hallway. Ugh, she does this every day, I roll over to look at the clock.

"Shit!" I've slept in, I leap out of bed and rush to the bathroom to brush my teeth and do my hair. Once I'm slightly satisfied with how it looks I throw on my uniform and grab my bag, thank gosh I pack it the night before because I would definitely forget something.

"Oh so you are alive,"

"Shut up dickhead," my brother is so sarcastic I have no idea how I still love him. He just laughs and throws an apple in his bag which I also do just after, along with a muesli bar and my water bottle.

"You should be walking out the door boys; have a good day and behave yourselves," my mother sings just as Willow opens the door, I swear she always does this, like I'll walk in the kitchen and start the dishes and she'll be like "hey River dear do you think you could wash up," I swear she is blind. But, we still do the daily ritual of saying:

"Bye mum, love you" every day my brother and I are almost synchronised It's funny.

We start the walk to school, 20 minutes, the bus doesn't stop close enough for us to catch but, it's not that bad as long it doesn't start raining cause then mum practically forces us to take umbrellas and that's just embarrassing.

"Are we picking up Alex?" I don't know why he bother's asking, we get him every day.

"Of course silly Billy" I laugh, Alex is my best friend, we've known each other since we were 10 and we see each other almost every day. Along with my brother, he is one of my most favourite people in the world like I would literally die for him, he is literally amazing.

We finally reach his house and stand outside for a couple of seconds before he comes running out.

"You're late !"

"Oh, hello to you too," I laugh

"Yeah this loser decided to sleep in... again," my brother tells him shoving me.

" I assumed" he passes us both a sandwich.

"Assuming you guys didn't have time to make one so you grabbed an apple and a muesli bar," we both just laugh and nod taking the paper bags and putting them in our backpacks.

"Thanks, man your the best"

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"Hey, do you want to go to a party tonight ?" Alex whispers in my ear during our last class of the week, I don't really know if I want to go, to be honest.

"I don't know. Whose party is it?" I don't usually enjoy parties, I usually end up sitting in the backyard drinking beer with some random girl that attached herself to me while Alex disappears for an hour.

"Simon's" he looks so excited I would feel really bad if I say no, "So..."

"Sure!" I smile and return my attention to the notes in front of me. I have zero interest in going to parties, I would much rather stay at home and play video games or watch movies but, whatever makes Alex happy is also in my best interest. He is the best thing that's happened to me, he's always there when I need him as I am for him; we do everything together, always by each other's sides, I couldn't imagine life without him, the world would be so empty without his stupid jokes or ridiculous yelling at the tv when he's losing a game, or just the little things like how every morning without a doubt he sends me a text saying 'good morning', or just his smile, it could literally light up a whole room and I'm not even exaggerating, that's just what he does.

"Oi, who are you thinking about, huh? You look like you're in bloody love," ... What? No, I'm not in love with Alex, he's my best mate. That's ridiculous.

"No-one," I wonder what he would think if I told him I was thinking about him, even though I know I'm not in love with him but, he has that idea about my thoughts.

"Yes you were, just tell me, what's her name?"

"I wasn't thinking about anyone!"

"River, just tell me bloody hell!" why is he getting so defensive? He almost seems jealous. Who does he think I have a crush on? Bloody hell it's like he thinks I have a crush. Who does he have a crush on? Now that I think about it he probably thinks I like them.

"I wasn't thinking about anyone, relax."

"Sorry, I don't know what got into me." He drops his head and goes quiet, I put my hand on his shoulder and assure him that it's fine before we start counting down the seconds on the clock, loud enough for one another to hear.

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1" We grab our stuff and leave the room as quickly as possible so we can get home and get ready.

"We don't have to pick up willow, he's going to a friend's" I call out as I sprint behind him which causes him to quickly change his direction for the gate. As we are walking home we keep laughing our asses of for no reason other than that we are our stupid selves.

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"We're home, mum!" I yell out as we loot the kitchen for food.

"Hey boys, I'm just getting ready for work; They called me in for a late shift, there's some pasta in the fridge for you," Score! we both turn to each other and quietly cheer as we each grab a bowl, leaving one for Willow when he gets home tomorrow.

"Alright boys, I'll see you tomorrow. Now, behave yourselves but have a good time alright. I'll be back at 7, okay?" she gives each of us a kiss on the head as she walks out the door, we stand there and watch it for a minute until we know she's gone before taking out three four-packs of beer and sitting them by the door to take with us.

We run up to my bedroom to get changed. We're nowhere near the same size, Alex is a fair bit taller than me, so if I wear one of his shirts, it sits a couple inches off my knees and swims around my arms. But, he has his own drawer in my room for when he sleeps over or we go to parties straight from school, which as a matter of fact, is exactly what's happening right now. We're both digging through looking for what to wear, I pull out my favourite pair of black skinny jeans and a dark green sweatshirt.
"Why don't you wear something different? You always wear the same thing" he asks looking at what I'm wearing.
"'Cause this is what I always wear..."
"Exactly," he rolls his eyes and starts rummaging through my stuff before pulling out a black shirt with some white flowers on,
"Put this on, tuck it in and put on your denim jacket."
I take the clothes from him, put them on and look in the mirror at myself, I actually look pretty cool. Alex comes up behind me and sits his head on my shoulder,
"See you look so good!" He says dragging out the first word, I smile I feel really cool.
"Are you saying I don't look good always!?" I say and faking that I'm offended.
"No I think you look gorgeous... always." he says with a straight face, I blush whilst making eye contact through the mirror.
"Thanks." I practically whisper and he just gets up and goes to finish getting ready, pulling on some light wash jeans and a plain black hoodie and his beanie. I can't stop thinking about what he said, my heart is still racing and I don't know why but, I can't help but to look at him and trace my eyes over his features
He. Is. Gorgeous.

~edited 05/03/2020~